France issues warrant for Carlos Ghosn, airlines split over banned passengers, Florida lawmakers vote to strip Disney's 'special status'

Notable business headlines include a French magistrate issuing an international arrest warrant for businessman Carlos Ghosn, airlines moving to bring back banned passengers as the federal mask mandate is lifted, and Florida lawmakers voting to revoke Disney’s ‘special status’ over the controversial ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law.

Video Transcript

JULIE HYMAN: A French magistrate has issued an international arrest warrant for fugitive former Renault and Nissan chief Carlos Ghosn. Prosecutors allege that Ghosn and four other individuals funneled millions of dollars of Renault funds through an Omani automotive distributor for his personal use. These, of course, are only the latest troubles for Ghosn. He fled trial for financial wrongdoing in Japan, from Japan, in 2019, smuggling himself to Lebanon in a music case via private jet.

Thousands of airline passengers banned for refusing to wear face masks can return to the skies, or at least, most of them can. American, Delta, and United have all said they plan to lift the bans now that masks are optional on flights for passengers who did not resort to violence. It didn't get that far. Alaska and Southwest, though, were not so forgiving, saying they won't be moving to bring back banned passengers.

Unions representing flight attendants and other airline workers denounced the move, the president of the Association of Flight Attendants saying, quote, "The timing of this is outrageous. The federal mask mandate has been lifted, but the pandemic isn't over."

Meanwhile, Philadelphia is following suit, ending its indoor mask mandate just days after the city said people have to start wearing them again, amid a sharp increase in COVID infections. The city's Board of Health voted Thursday to rescind the mandate, citing, quote, "decreasing hospitalizations and a leveling of case counts."

And Disney's beef with Florida continues to escalate over the Sunshine State's controversial Don't Say Gay law. The state house passed a bill Thursday which would rescind Disney World's special district status as of June 1. The Reedy Creek District was created in 1967 by state law. It allows Disney to self-govern, collecting taxes and providing emergency services to the 25,000 acres of land it owns in the region.

Tax experts say removing that status could cost taxpayers more than a billion dollars in bond liabilities. Ron DeSantis began targeting the media giant after it criticized the legislation that would prevent classroom instruction on the topics of gender identity and sexual orientation in Florida schools.